Thy First Love Returneth
by GothGirl1996
Summary: Damon's first love returns to Mystic Falls to help defeat the heretics. Will Damon allow himself to love whilst he waits for Elena? Can he find happiness in the one thing he never though he would be able to have?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Deadbeat city

2015

It was sunset when she crawled from the cellar of the Mystic Grill. Damon was stood outside with Stefan and Caroline, who had her hand is on his elbow. They turned as they heard her approach, all on high alert. Damon grabbed Bonnie's arm as she emerged from the grill's door beside him. Then he relaxed as the newcomer held up her hands in surrender.

"You asked and I am here." Was all she said in a voice like silk and honey. A voice Stefan had heard many time, many years ago. He flashed Damon a look and Damon shrugged.

"Jesus, you didn't? Damon tell me you didn't?" Stefan pleaded quietly as the newcomer, a woman stepped into the light cast by the street lamp between them and her. She was a curvaceous young woman of about 21 in age and 5'6" tall, her hair fell in auburn curls to her shoulders surrounding an oval face with almond shaped green eyes, full lips and an angular nose. She was very attractive, even Caroline and Bonnie noticed that. She wore a long flowing black skirt, with a white blouse and on her feet were a pair of black high heeled ankle boots. She wore a black trench coat over the top, but it fell undone at the front.

"Hello, boys." She added with a small smile, a flirtatious look in her eye and Damon rushed forward dropping Bonnie's arm so quickly Stefan had to catch her as she stumbled forwards. Damon said nothing, just gazed at her face, eyes glancing down at the red painted lips that quirked up at one end at him briefly before he kissed her. Arms around her waist, her hands settling against his chest. It lasted several seconds before Stefan coughed to attract their attention.

"Hello, gorgeous." Damon smirked back with a satisfied sigh.

"Hello, darling." The woman replied. Bonnie huffed and folded her arms, thinking to herself thst Damon had moved from Elena quickly.

"Hello, Miss Fell." Stefan said with a nod.

"You can still call me Ellie, Stefan. That hasn't changed." The newcomer replied, her arm linked in Damon's.

"Bonnie Bennet, Caroline Forbes may I introduce Miss Helena Fell. Damon's fiancée." Stefan said and suddenly got glared at by both the women, aside from Helena. "She was once, in 1863- it's a hard habit to break when you've been introducing her as it for years." Caroline sighed., Bonnie was still confused.

"We shouldn't stay on the roadway for too long. Lily's heretics could be anywhere." Helena Fell spoke quietly but in a tone which no one chose to argue with.

"We're all staying at Whitmore College..." Bonnie began but Helena tutted and shook her head.

"Nonsense. You'll stay with me... I still have a house here." Helena said and pointed towards the forest. "Old Fell Hall."

Damon kissed her again. "You are fantastic."

"I know." Helena flirted and Damon laughed... The first since Elena had been put in her slumber. Stefan took Caroline's hand and Bonnie's arm as Damon and Helena headed off to Helena's car- a vintage black soft top Cadillac de Ville dating from the 1970s- which was parked across the street. Damon sat behind the wheel, Helena beside him and Stefan helped first Bonnie then Caroline into the back seat before climbing in himself. Not two seconds passed before Damon was zooming off towards the old estates he, Stefan and Helena had grown up on, 150 years or so ago.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Daniel

The house was dark when they arrived, save for the lone lantern that hung from the porches lintel where it had stood since 1835 when the house was built by Helena's father Thomas Fell, the year he married Honora, the year before their eldest child, Thomas Jnr was born.

Damon stopped the car just outside the house and looked over at Helena. She caught his eye and smiled. His baby blues were questioning her.

"I'm alright, Damon. It doesn't pain me as much as it might once have. Come on." She invited jumping out of her car and heading for the door. Damon followed with Caroline, Bonnie and Stefan. They watched as she and Bonnie crossed the threshold. Helena turned back to them. "Please, do come in." She smiled before dropping her keys into a glass dish on the hall table.

"Oh, and darling. Would you close the front door behind you." She called as she wandered through to the kitchen, just through the large double doors on the right hand side of the hallway. Damon nodded and pushed the door closed behind him before following the others down the hall. He saw Stefan gazing around him and the two brothers caught each other's eyes, with slight sad looks. Damon could tell they were both remembering the happier times within the house on the next estate, known as Veritas.

Helena was busy at the stove when the others walked in. She flitted around the kitchen and inhuman speed. "I hope you're hungry, I took the liberty of preparing supper before I left." Damon smiled and caught her eye. She blushed.

"Yes, I'm cooking, Damon. Is that really so surprising?" She asked in a light voice.

"It is when I remember you having a cook- Mrs MacHardy, wasn't it? Buxom woman, Scottish?" Damon asked from the doorway in which he was leaning against the jamb.

"Yes, lovely lady. Died of consumption in 1870, she was 75 you know. But she taught me to cook- all those picnics we shared, Damon, I made every element of them by myself under her tutorage." Damon smiled, impressed and Helena caught his eye and blushed some more. Then the front door could be heard opening and Helena stiffened. Damon moved towards her and placed his hand on her shoulder. Before she disappeared from his grasp leaving he stood holding a wooden spatula, a steaming wok on the stove.

There were voice speaking in the hall and Caroline tried to listen but could hear anything save a light buzzing. Then Helena returned, her arm around a young man's shoulder. She sat him down and only then did Caroline noticed the boy was bleeding.

"Honestly, when will you learn not to mess with Hunters?" Helena scolded the boy as she pulled a splinter of wood from the boys chest, followed by another and another, all of which she dropped into a dish on the counter top by the sink. "Damon, stir. Or it will stick." Damon was staring at her and the boy before he leapt to action and followed her words, still glancing every few seconds to the boy.

"He started it..." The boy began to argue.

"I do not want to hear it, young man. When will you learn not to date daughters of hunters? Honestly have I taught you nothing? There. All gone. Go get yourself cleaned up, we have guests and dinner will be served shortly." Helena instructed and the boy, who appeared no older than sixteen stood up and slouched off towards the hall and the stairs. Helena sighed and placed her hand to her forehead with a sigh.

"Who was that?" Stefan asked as Helena passed him on her way to the wine rack on the wall behind him. Helena paused, placed the bottle she had in her hand on the worktop and sighed.

"My son." The room fell silent, save for the electric whirring of the refrigerator in the corner and the sizzling of the meal cooking in the wok, Damon was stirring.

A short time later Helena and her companions moved into the dining room whilst Helena brought through the plates, of mushroom risotto, placing one in front of each of her guests. Caroline sat beside Stefan with Bonnie opposite next to an empty chair presumably for Helena's son, with both Helena and Damon sat at either end of the large walnut dining table, which had stood in the room since the 1840s when it had been bought. The boy, Helena's son, joined them just as they were sitting down. Helena smiled and walked towards him in the doorway.

"Daniel, this is Caroline Forbes and Bonnie Bennett, Stefan Salvatore and... Your father, Damon Salvatore." There was a stunned silence. "This is my son, Daniel Giuseppe Salvatore." Damon turned and met the blue eyes of the boy, and in them he could see himself, then his eyes met Helena's and they stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Parent hood

Damon stood up slowly and watched as the dark haired boy, so much like him, had a smile spread slowly across his face in glee and through his arms around his neck.

"Father. You returned to us." The boy said happily and Damon had to hold the boy at arms length to look at him properly. He was the spitting image of a younger Damon. Even Caroline and a Bonnie could see that. Stefan stood too and Daniel tore from Damon to throw his arms around Stefan too. "And Uncle Stefan! How wonderful this is, mother has spoken so highly of you both for many a year and I dreamed of the day I would be able to meet you. It is an honour, truly." Daniel gushed as he released Stefan who smiled and placed his hands on the lads shoulders and turned to look at Damon who was staring at Helena with wide eyes.

"When?"

"What?" Helena answered not hearing Damon's small voice as he asked the question.

"When was he born?" Damon asked again, a little louder than before trying not to meet the boy's eye.

"March 29th 1864, in Atlanta, a little after my 22nd birthday. Father had sent me to live with Aunt Dorothy when he found out. Said I'd shamed the Fell family name." Helena said quietly, looking down at her plate, for she had sat down when Daniel had hugged Stefan.

"Gettysburg. He was conceived after Gettysburg." Damon said, doing some silent maths in his head. Helena nodded.

"Presumably when you came home a week or so after the battle. I cannot be entirely sure of course, but the timing fits. For if you remember, my love, we met several times in the first few days after your return." Helena added with a small smile and a glance toward Damon, who had know turned to look at Daniel, where he remained standing beside Stefan. Helena too shot a small look at Daniel and Damon saw her hand shake as she held it out to her son.

"Mother, I am here, so do not let it bring you pain. You do not have to think or speak of it again. I know how it hurts you so." Daniel knelt beside his mother and kissed the back of her right hand, the dainty fingers cushioned in his larger hand.

"It's alright, Daniel. Your father should know. After all, it should have been his pain too." Helena said quietly. Damon flashed a look towards her.

"Tell me what?" He asked, taking a step around the table towards them. He was growling now, slightly, under his breath.

"Daniel was not the only child born that day- he had a twin. A sister, our daughter." Helena's voice broke with emotion. Daniel hugged his mother to him and held her hands on one of his own. "But she was taken from me a few months later."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The truth, as I know it.

"Taken?" Stefan asked, sitting down again beside Caroline who took his hand in hers where it lay on the polished wood.

"She was murdered by a vile cruel man. A man more powerful than you can imagine." Helena said, wiping her eyes with the handkerchief her son pulled from his shirt pocket, a clean one folded into a neat square.

"What was her name?" Caroline asked quietly, feeling deep sadness for this young woman and her son, as well as to a degree, Damon- for this was his family... His children.

"Honora Lily, after our mothers'." Helena said glancing between Stefan and Damon, who exchanged a small look- a mix of happiness and disgust, at a young child being named after their mother, a thing no child should suffer in their eyes- having her for a mother or indeed a grandmother.

The meal continued in silence moments later when Daniel sat between Bonnie and Damon. Damon kept shooting glances between him and Helena, the latter who seemed to be avoiding his gaze. It was not until after they had eaten, Helena had cleared the plates away to the kitchen and they had all retired for bourbon in the drawing room on the opposite side of the hall, that Damon spoke again.

"I think you need to tell me the whole story. From the beginning, Ellie."

Helena sat in one of the Chesterfield armchairs, an obviously new addition to such an ancient house. Daniel was sat on the floor, his head resting against his mother's thigh, just above her knee. The other two Chesterfield sofas were taken up by Damon and Bonnie and Stefan and Caroline. Helena took a deep breath, stroked Daniel's hair and began the tale.

December 1862

Damon was walking to meet Helena, the woman he desired above all else, to escort her to the winter fayre in their small town of Mystic Falls. It was a particularly hard winter, snow was falling and already deep underfoot, sitting some 6 or 7 inches above the ground. He was undecided whether it would have been better if he had brought the horses from his father's stables for them too ride down, but the driveway to the Salvatore mansion had been pure ice (Damon had practically skated down it to the gate) and he had decided against it, fearing for the animals' safety in such treacherous conditions.

As he turned the corner he could see Helena at her bedroom window looking out for him and he waved before he saw her smile and race from the window and presumably down the stairs to the grand hallway to await his arrival at the door. He quickened his pace, eager to not leave her waiting for him and about a minute later climbed the porch steps to knock on the door using the large iron knocker shaped like a horses head.

He knocked twice before the door was opened by Mr Grey, the Fell's butler. "Good morning, Mr Salvatore. Miss Helena is in the drawing room."

"Thank you, Grey," Damon nodded handing his hat and gloves into the butler's outstretched hand before he walked to the family's drawing room. Helena was sat with a book open on her lap- not that she had been reading it, she looked up and then stood when Damon entered.

"Damon." She breathed quietly as Damon made his way towards her, after surveying the room and making sure her parents or governess were present. He kissed her tenderly, arm snaking around her waist.

"Hello, Helena."

"Let me get my cloak and my hat, then may we go to the fayre?" She asked politely, cheeks blushing pink as they parted.

"Of course." Damon nodded, pleased he was the one making her blush and let her go before returning to the hallway where Grey handed him back his hat and gloves. Helena soon followed and Grey handed her a pair of gloves. She smiled at the elderly butler before he opened the door and saw them out with a small smile.

They walked together arm in arm down to the centre of Mystic Falls, passing her uncle's surgery and her cousin Henry who waved at them from the window. Henry was Damon's best friend, both returned from part of the civil war for Christmas leave. They would be leaving again in the new year. A time Helena dreaded, for there was always the opportunity she could lose either of them. Damon doffed his hat and Helena waved back before they continued off to meet Stefan on the corner of the street with the Salvatore's cousin, Charlotte who was visiting from Louisiana.

They spent hours at the fayre, ice skating and eating roasted chestnuts by the frozen lake, and then as dusk fell Damon accompanied Helena back to the Fell's mansion. Just beofre they fell in sight of the house, Damon pulled her round to the side of the stables, amongst the evergreen pines where they would be hidden from view.

Helena laughed as she partly slipped on the ice and Damon caught her, pressing her gently towards the wall of the stables.

"What are we doing, Damon?" She asked breathlessly, arms snaking around his neck and fingers tangling into the hair at the nape of his neck.

"Saying goodbye." He replied, kissing her... Her cheeks, her lips and slowly down her neck. Helena sighed and kissed him back.

"Goodbye seems so definite... So solid. Why don't we say something else?" Helena suggested tensing under Damon's touch so he moved his head from her neck and looked her in the eyes, hands moving to cup her cheeks.

"I'll be seeing you... How's that?" He asked kissing her again.

"I'll be waiting for you..." Helena replied and Damon smiled before kissing her again and again...


End file.
